Sunday, April 18
Houston, TX
11 AM
Rice University
5
at
0
Houston
Focused Owls Blank Cougars
4/18/2021 3:32:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Finish regular season 14-5
In Brief: The 37th ranked Rice women's tennis team closed out their regular season with a 5-0 win over Houston at the Winston Family Tennis Facility on Sunday afternoon. Anna Bowtell delivered the clinching point to improve to 10-5 on the season and reach double figures in dual singles wins for the fourth consecutive season.
Doubles: Maria Budin and Diae El Jardi rebounded from seeing a 5-2 lead evaporate to win a tiebreaker and give the Owls the early advantage. Linda Huang and Anastasia Smirnova gave the Owls the early advantage with a 6-4 win at the third line, but UH struck back to take the match at two and evening the match at one 5-5. The win for Budin and El Jardi raised their season mark to 13-4, the best mark for an Owls first line doubles team since Natalie Beazant and Dominique Harmath were 20-6 in 2013.
Singles: The Owls opened strongly, taking five of six first sets in singles and then built the lead to 3-0 as Budin and Federica Trevisan closed out straight set wins at the sixth and third lines. However the final outcome remained in doubt as the Cougars forced a third set on one court and took the other two deep into the second set before a brief rain shower delayed the outcome even further. Bowtell, who had outlasted Azul Pedeonti in a first set tiebreker, completed a 7-5 win in the second set once play resumed to deliver her third clinch point of the season just ahead of Michaela Haet's tiebreak win at the first line to add a fifth point.
Elizabeth Schmidt: "We really showed great mental toughness today. There were a number of moments in multiple matches were we were not able to convert a key point, but across the board we kept our focus and emerged with the win. We were able to maintain our focus during the rain delay and didn't miss a beat when we came back to the courts."
Up Next: Rice will look to defend its C-USA Championship in Denton when the conference tournament opens play on Thursday with six opening round matches. The top two seeds in the conference will open play on Friday in quarterfinals. The full bracket will be released on Monday.
Follow the Action:
For the most up-to-date information on Rice Women's Tennis, follow the Owls on Twitter @RiceTennis or Instagram @ricewtennis or like Rice Women's Tennis on Facebook.
Doubles: Maria Budin and Diae El Jardi rebounded from seeing a 5-2 lead evaporate to win a tiebreaker and give the Owls the early advantage. Linda Huang and Anastasia Smirnova gave the Owls the early advantage with a 6-4 win at the third line, but UH struck back to take the match at two and evening the match at one 5-5. The win for Budin and El Jardi raised their season mark to 13-4, the best mark for an Owls first line doubles team since Natalie Beazant and Dominique Harmath were 20-6 in 2013.
Singles: The Owls opened strongly, taking five of six first sets in singles and then built the lead to 3-0 as Budin and Federica Trevisan closed out straight set wins at the sixth and third lines. However the final outcome remained in doubt as the Cougars forced a third set on one court and took the other two deep into the second set before a brief rain shower delayed the outcome even further. Bowtell, who had outlasted Azul Pedeonti in a first set tiebreker, completed a 7-5 win in the second set once play resumed to deliver her third clinch point of the season just ahead of Michaela Haet's tiebreak win at the first line to add a fifth point.
Elizabeth Schmidt: "We really showed great mental toughness today. There were a number of moments in multiple matches were we were not able to convert a key point, but across the board we kept our focus and emerged with the win. We were able to maintain our focus during the rain delay and didn't miss a beat when we came back to the courts."
Up Next: Rice will look to defend its C-USA Championship in Denton when the conference tournament opens play on Thursday with six opening round matches. The top two seeds in the conference will open play on Friday in quarterfinals. The full bracket will be released on Monday.
Follow the Action:
For the most up-to-date information on Rice Women's Tennis, follow the Owls on Twitter @RiceTennis or Instagram @ricewtennis or like Rice Women's Tennis on Facebook.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2,1
#1 Singles Match
12
67
KENDALL-WOSELEY, Mim / 0 [HOU]
26
#2 Singles Match
1234
6320
GERITS, Sophie / 0 [HOU]
364UF
#3 Singles Match
12
66
SLISANE, Laura / 0 [HOU]
32
#4 Singles Match
123
370
CHITDARA, Phonexay / 0 [HOU]
65UF
#5 Singles Match
12
77
PEDEMONTI, Azul / 0 [HOU]
65
#6 Singles Match
12
66
CORTIJO, Blanca / 0 [HOU]
21
Order of Finish:
6,3,5,1
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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